One of the greatest compliments that fans can give celebrities is to imitate their style and looks, sometimes even to the point of becoming virtual doppelgangers of a particular celebrity.
But Ariana Grande feels differently and has hit back at the “TikTok girls” who have accurately copied her look and unique vocals.
It started when Jordan Firstman, a filmmaker, did his own Arianna Grande impression in a stunt that appeared to poke fun at those mimicking the signer, and Ariana, 26, took notice.
“Can this please also double as your impression of the ponytail TikTok girls who think doing the Cat Valentine voice and that wearing winged eyeliner and a sweatshirt is doing a good impersonation of me… cause this really how it feels,” she wrote.
Referring to the portion of the video where it mentioned “degrading its entire value” Ariana appeared to concur by adding: “I screamed.”
But Paige Niemann, the 14-year-old who shot to social media fame and gained millions of followers for her Ariana impressions, has hit back at the singer’s response.
“I’m used to Ariana shading me, so it’s whatever,” Niemann said during an April 23 live stream. “I’m just here to entertain people. It’s not how I am in real life. It’s kind of why I’m not a fan of her anymore, honestly.”
Paige was only 10 years old when she got compared to Ariana. Four years later, she had a million TikTok followers and Internet fame because of her uncanny resemblance to the chart-topper.
At first, it was her mom who did her hair and makeup but later on, she picked up her own beauty tricks. As she kept posting on Instagram, the more Ariana fans around the world took notice of her.
But Ariana tweeted that the impersonations were “bizarre” and that they seemed to be trying to copy Cat Valentine, her old character from the kid’s show Victorious.
She tweeted: “i just wonder whyyyy the cat voice/dialogue. i am sure she is the sweetest sweet sweetheart forreal !! but it’s definitely bizarre seeing people blend the two worlds lmao.”
Paige, from California, attributes her uncanny likeness to Arianna with the fact that they’re both Italian-American.
Now that she’s an influencer, Paige also shares sponsored content with her 40,000 Instagram followers.
“When I started to do my looks like her some of her fans are really sweet, but the other half are the meanest people I have ever seen online,” she told Dazed in February as she talked about the downsides of being a celebrity doppelganger.
“Ariana fans get so offended when people do anything similar to Ariana. They’ll be like ‘be yourself,’ or that they don’t like people stealing, or that there is only one Ariana, that I’ll never be her.”
But the negative comments haven’t stopped her from “cosplaying” as Ariana and she uses the singer’s album art, stage costumes, and music video outfits as inspiration for her own look.
Her posts receive up to 12,000 likes on average and her most recent one seems to point to scenes from the Thank U Next video. For Halloween, Paige sported an Ariana-inspired stage costume.
Comments usually go: “Wow you look exactly like Ariana it’s scary” and “No stop! I literally thought Ariana posted a selfie.”
“You’re the absolute best at recreating ari looks ! queen !!!,” went another.
But the hateful comments can also be cruel. “Wannabe,” said one, while another troll wrote: “Imagine not having your own personality or look.”
Others just seemed confused. “Wait this isn’t Ariana???? Is this a fan page or do you legit look like her twin I’m confused,” one person asked.
Replaced!